Multiplayer
by Shimmerleaf
Summary: It's been a while since Inuoka and Shibayama have played a video game together. Attempting to continue further on in Yoshi's Woolly World can only lead to some interesting blunders when they don't even remember the controls. Written for 7 Days of Nekoma/Nekoma Week on Tumblr.


A/N: Shibayama and Inuoka are both so adorbs and they don't get enough love so I wrote this for them since yeah, they're my fav Nekoma pair when it comes to friendship. I hope you guys like reading it as much as I liked writing it c:

Happy Leafing~

* * *

"What are the controls for this again?" Shibayama cautiously asks, turning the Wiimote Inuoka had handed him horizontally in his hands as he eyes the TV, watching _Yoshi's Woolly World_ appear on the screen. "It's been a while since we've played this."

The middle blocker plops down on the floor next to him and flashes him a grin while pushing the A button on his own Game Pad to continue on from the title screen. "I'm sure we'll remember when we start playing," Inuoka replies. Clicking around on the game pad, he arrives at the file selection screen and promptly clicks on the first one, bringing both Shibayama and him to the desert island of World 2. A green Yoshi and a red Yoshi are casually standing around, waiting to be controlled. "You want to do 1-1 as a refresher?"

"Sure, we never did collect all the yarn either," Shibayama comments, his fingers idly circling the buttons on the remote while Inuoka directs his Yoshi back towards the main island and then over to World 1 while the red one automatically follows behind.

Most of the clicking around happens on Inuoka's gamepad since he's the first player and Shibayama merely watches until the first stage actually starts. The two different coloured Yoshi knit themselves together and the word _start_ appears. There's a Shy Guy sitting further right of their starting point and after a few seconds, it starts walking towards them.

Inuoka starts randomly pressing buttons in an attempt at figuring which ones does what and Shibayama pretty much does the same. Since they're using different controllers, it's not like they can tell each other if either of them figure it out either. There's a lot of jumping involved and tongues sticking out but licking nothing and eventually, Inuoka's Yoshi lands on the Shy Guy, sending the dinosaur flying backwards with a sharp _wah_ sound. "Oops," Inuoka mumbles sheepishly, flashing Shibayama a smile, "At least we didn't die right away. That's better than in Mario."

The libero laughs slightly at that. It had been a while ago that Inuoka had somehow managed to borrow a Mario game from a friend and the two of them had played it but hadn't even managed to clear World 1 because they kept dying. At least with this game they had somehow gotten to World 2, though that wouldn't mean anything if they couldn't remember the controls…

 _It should be like Mario Kart_ , Shibayama thinks to himself. There are only so many buttons and combinations between them on the Wiimote. Pushing the 1 button, he manages to get the red Yoshi to lick the Shy Guy and then swallow it to turn it into an egg with the down button. Inuoka watches this on the TV screen and then pats Shibayama on the back. "You're great at this, Yuuki! I think I remember the controls now."

"That's great Inuoka-kun. Lead the way." The green Yoshi takes the lead again and most of the gameplay seems to be quite familiar. There are gems to collect, five flowers through the stage they should try to get for completion, more Shy Guys to lick to turn into eggs, and just other things in general to lick. Things were going pretty smoothly for once and even upon facing the first piranha plant, they managed to figure out the controls on how to throw and aim an egg to defeat it. Progression through the stage went quite smoothly and eventually they finished it, though they were still missing a few yarn pieces. "Do you want to try again?"

"How about we move on back to World 2 and try again later?" Shibayama suggests and Inuoka nods, directing the Yoshi back towards the desert island. They had last left off at the midway point for this world, at the first boss battle, and hopefully they'll be able to advance past it this time.

The map starts with a rather confusing layout. "Left or right?"

"Try left first."

Koopas greet them after the screen changed and while it was easy enough to lick them, dealing with the shell is a whole different story. "Wait Inuoka-kun, don't spit the shell there!"

Shibayama's exclamation came too late and the shell proceeds to zoom into them, resulting in both their Yoshi losing health. It takes some well timed jumps to get out of the way and to lick it back up. All the while, they were both calling out to the screen and laughing. "Sorry Yuuki, that was my bad."

"It's fine, it's fine," he replies with a small smile, "Just watch where you throw those."

"Got it!"

Figuring out where to go next took some trial and error since the path was out of sight. Then, of course, came the dreaded green pipe dangling from above.

"Jump on top of me, Yuuki. Then press up," Inuoka instructed, directing his Yoshi to bounce on top of the button like block. The libero complies and makes the red Yoshi jump on top of the green one, but all they succeed at doing is bumping into each other and the pipe while occasionally a Shy Guy decides to ruin the fun and walk into Inuoka, which after a few times, leads to him dying.

Shibayama is left as the only Yoshi on the screen. He's still bouncing up and down and with one push of the up arrow, he managed to get progress forward, all before Inuoka can respawn. The two of them exchange looks, unable to hold in their laughter at just how _great_ they are at this game. Of course, since they weren't pay attention to the screen, they both missed seeing the single Shy Guy walk into Shibayama, resulting in him dying just as Inuoka respawns as an egg slowly floating downward. Since they both died, they're taken back to the beginning of the stage.

"How about we try the right this time?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

* * *

"Hit me, Yuuki! Hit me!"

"You're too high up, Inuoka-kun, I can't reach!"

"Try now! No, wait, don't! Dodge him!"

The giant Koopa spins rapidly toward the single red Yoshi and Shibayama is able to jump and dodge it, but barely. Exhaling a sigh in relief, Shibayama watches as the Koopa starts flying and resumes trying to break Inuoka out of the egg. The Koopa doesn't give them any time to breathe though, hovering really closely towards the Yoshi.

"Lick him, Yuuki! This should be the last time."

One lick and the Koopa falls onto its back.

"Ground pound him!"

A few jumps to get closer until the red Yoshi is right above the Koopa and then double clicking on the 2 button, Shibayama performs a ground pound. The Koopa does one final spin before erupting into gems.

"You did it, Yuuki! That was great! Good job!" Inuoka cheers happily.

"Thanks Inuoka-kun, Shibayama replies, a wide smile on his lips.

"You're so much better at this game than me," Inuoka continues. The libero shakes his head slightly, trying to brush off his friend's praise but he can't help his grin. It _does_ feel great beating a boss. "I'm glad I have you to play it with me!"

"It's a lot of fun playing with you too, Inuoka-kun. Next level?"

"Yeah, I'll try to not die on you so much!"


End file.
